


Like A Flower

by NoNomDePlume



Series: Aither University of Demigods [1]
Category: Avenged Sevenfold, Bandom, Cobra Starship, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, The Academy Is...
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Demigods, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Greek gods, Implied/Referenced Bottom Frank Iero, Implied/Refrenced Top Gerard, Innocent Frank Iero, No Sex, Non-Binary Frank iero, Other, Romance, Soulmates, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:47:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22147393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoNomDePlume/pseuds/NoNomDePlume
Summary: "What are you looking at?" Mikey trained his eyes to where Gerard was looking and snorted, loudly. "Never gonna happen Gee."Gerard looked at him snidely and rolled his eyes. Heknowsthat it's never gonna happen but he's the only one allowed to say that to himself."Look Gee, that-" Mikey pointed "Is probably one of Aphrodite's. And you-" He pointed at Gerard "Is the personification of stretching out the space between each shower time."Gerard made numerous amounts of faces, sounding and looking indignant before failing himself and just hung his head in shame and nodded. "I – yeah..."Something in him told him that he should try and pursue though. And whether the voice in his head telling him to go for it was his subconscious or his sanity breaking was open for interpretation.
Relationships: Frank Iero/Gerard Way, Ryan Ross/Brendon Urie (mentioned)
Series: Aither University of Demigods [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1594054
Comments: 6
Kudos: 50





	Like A Flower

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't beta'd and English is not my first language so sorry for the mistakes you might find. This story was inspired by one of overly sarcastic production's videos on youtube.

Art, a thing that Gerard Arthur Way is exceptional at. Al though it's not the kind of art his father no doubt has in mind for him, he still managed to wiggle himself a scholarship for visual arts in one of the biggest colleges in America.

And it was big, both in size and in reputation. Aither, an Ivy league university with an acceptance rate of 12%, sits snuggly on top of the other prestigious universities out there. Rightfully so. All of the students at Aither University are exceptional, and they mean _exceptional_ , at at least one thing. No one other than the patrons of the school could possibly be beaten at what they're good at. And maybe it's because each and every one of them cheated they're way in in a way. The same way how some people born with a high IQ ‘cheated’ their way into Mensa.

And that's where Gerard was conflicted for a while. He knows the kind of person he is and that is the kind that would bitch his brother's ears until it bleeds about how equality is important but equity is better. But he did surprise himself by actually getting a scholarship and not just a letter of acceptance and that's really all his work and has nothing to do with his father. The fact that it was for visual arts and not music solidifies this fact and he gladly accepted it.

Not that he was bad at music, on the contrary, he loves writing music and singing. Being in a band is on the list of things that he wanted to do in life, right next to being an awesome comic book writer. He wasn't scholarship material though, not like Patrick with the bazillion instruments he could play or like Brendon with his 8-octave perfect pitched range. None of them are even the sons of his father and sometimes Gerard wonder if he even is his father’s son, but then he’ll look at his abysmal love life from girl moving town to get away from him, to boy almost braining himself on the school steps cause he was running too fast so he could get away from Gerard and he would be reminded yet again how closely he resembled his father in some aspects. Fun times. He’s not even the most attractive in the music department, no that was Brendon. And what’d you know, Patrick has most votes on being the cutest. So yeah, he wasn’t exceptional like them. No, he was good and he's fine with it.

Right now though, he hates it. He hates staring at the stupid four walls of the small band room when he was itching to finish his comic sitting on his desk back at his dorm room. Gods know Gerard sucks at switching gears and if he had a thread of inspiration, he has to follow through _goddammit_. But he needs to fulfill this quota, at least today, he didn't want to face his father's wrath. He still remembers the time Brendon snuck out of his meteorology courses several times until he needed to retake the class and his father sent a lightning bolt to strike him in the middle of the football field on a cool Tuesday evening. His heart had stopped but was resuscitated by none other than his little brother just before he could sustain any long lasting brain damage - well _more_ brain damage. Brendon’s an idiot at some parts.

He could feel the tingles going up his spine just by the memory and he shook it off by looking outside for the umpteenth time of the day. The scenery from here was beautiful, the garden below and the small pond located in the center made the whole school looked less drab. His eyes caught something that was even more beautiful than the scenery though.

A boy. A girl? Beautiful for sure.

Whoever it is was reading a book on one of the small benches located sparsely all around the garden. Gerard couldn't see their face fairly well but honestly the beauty still shined through. The delicate face framed by rich dark brown hair that curled just below the most defined jaw in the world. If Gerard's balls have never dropped yet then it would've in this situation.

The person had company, Gerard noticed. A protector that he thinks he's seen a couple of times in one of his classes. His heart rate sped at the thought of maybe meeting whoever that beauty was through him. That won’t happen though, he was too much of a pussy to even try.

Gerard looked at the clock, back at the lifeless room, then back at the clock. He thought, _fuck_ _this_ , and ran to meet the beauty.

*

He did not succeed. He sucked at running and tripped several flights of stairs on his way to meet whoever it is outside. He didn't exactly had a plan and he didn't have time making one up with his brain and heart finally aligning and going _heee_ at the thought of the lovely enchantress.

And it took another week for Gerard to finally see them again, sitting in the exact same place and probably reading the exact same book. Unfortunately, by now Gerard has built up about a week’s worth of anxiety that broke down into 'I look like shit compare to him, who am I to say hello?' and 'I look like shit in general, who am I kidding?'. It mixed and matched itself along the way.

So now Gerard just stood there, in the middle of the courtyard at eight in the morning probably obstructing the few that was more popular people than him, that was currently doing they're ritualistic walk of shame. Just looking, staring, enraptured.

"Bro stop staring." Gerard didn't realize his mouth started to opened until his brother pushed it back up ever so slowly, taunting him. Gerard pushed his hands away with a scowl and Mikey giggled.

"Thanks Mikes." He mumbled sarcastically to somewhere next to him without taking his eyes of the target, who surprisingly hadn't noticed the creepy dude dressed in all black just staring at them across the yard.

"What are you looking at?" Mikey trained his eyes to where Gerard was looking and snorted, loudly. "Never gonna happen Gee."

Gerard looked at him snidely and rolled his eyes. He _knows_ that it's never gonna happen but he's the only one allowed to say that to himself.

"Look Gee, that-" Mikey pointed "Is probably one of Aphrodite's. And you-" He pointed at Gerard "Is the personification of stretching out the space between each shower time."

Gerard made numerous amounts of faces, sounding and looking indignant before failing himself and just hung his head in shame and nodded. "I – yeah..."

Something in him told him that he should try and pursue though. And whether the voice in his head telling him to go for it was his subconscious or his sanity breaking was open for interpretation.

*

"You. Me. Ryan. Party."

Gerard snorted and flipped the next page to his comic book. "Ryan and you won't happen Gabe. Deal." Gerard shifted in his seat and found the best position that he lost about an hour ago and groaned in comfort, because Gabe has a tendency of barging into people's room without knocking and startling them out of their hour long perfect position in the process.

"But...Brendon's bad for him, he's gonna cheat like his dad." Gabe pouted, the crease between his eyes increasing with how much he thought about it. 

Now that was not fair, if he knows anything about anything is that on the contrary of peoples' belief, the kids here are nothing like their parents. The one side of it anyways. In fact there was this sheen of disgust when being told that they were anything like them unless it’s about actual and factual talents, because they’re not them, they won’t be them, they adopted the nurture vs nature concept and held it firm and proud. Safe to say a lot of people here has either daddy or mommy issues. But Gerard settled with shrugging it off and continued reading, Gabe's love life or lack there off is none of his business. "Go tell him that."

Gabe nodded to himself all slow like, like he was considering it until his head nodding stopped after a while. There was this blank look across his face like he forgot completely what the purpose of his existence in this room was, until a somewhat dimwitted smile crept on his face. He suddenly jumped, the motion startling Gerard. "But the party?"

Gerard steadfastly ignore Gabe's attempts at puppy dog eyes, sneering in disgust but nodded anyway. "Sure."

Gabe stood up quickly and did this weird small happy dance thing before placing a smacking kiss on Gerard's cheek. “Uggh.” Gerard wiped at his cheek.

"Thanks Gee.” Gabe sing-song, he proceeded to ran face first onto the door before jumping back and opening it to leave Gerard alone once again in his dorm room.

Gerard sighed and contemplated his loose friendship with most of the freaks on campus.

*

He was there. The boy. Girl? Whoever.

Gerard kept staring at the small person who attracted the attention of a lot of the party goers. Gerard felt jealousy swell in the pit of his stomach and then he felt dumb for feeling jealous in the first place since he doesn't exactly know who the person is.

"Frank Iero."

Gerard jumped slightly before realizing the voice belonged to his brother. "What?"

"The kid's name is Frank. Goes by Frankie." He said before sipping from his red solo cup. The liquid inside was swirling different colors every time Mikey sipped it and Gerard doesn't want to know what kind of fucked up Jungle Juice Gabe has come up with this time.

"How'd you found out his name?"

Mikey shrugged, leaning in to talk more to Gerard’s ear over the loud thumping music. "Just because we're brothers doesn't mean I'm as reclused of a hermit like you are." Gerard glared and Mikey chuckled in turn, nudging his brother lightly. "He's in my music class, Now go." Before Gerard realized it, he was being shoved in between throngs of people and right onto the small person's arm.

He felt drunk and delirious and he hasn't even had a drop of alcohol yet. He swayed on his feet before composing himself to turn and berate at his brother. But the younger had disappeared and Gerard just realized that he's standing in front of arguably the prettiest person in school.

"Hi." He breathed out choosing to face his absolutely drop-dead gorgeous fear. The other just wiggled their fingers timidly in a show of hello probably thinking Gerard as some sort of freak, but Gerard just can't help but think the sleeve covered hands coupled with the motion was adorable as all hell.

"You're Frank – I mean uh, Frankie." Gerard suddenly blurted without thinking.

The other chuckled, sipping at their drink they were holding with both hands. Adorable.

"That would be me." The voice that came out from in between those pretty lips was definitely male but Gerard wouldn't assume.

"Can I know your name?" those pretty lips moved to asked.

"I – uh Gerard."

Frankie's eyes widened with recognition and Gerard was hit face first with the most beautiful honey colored eyes he's ever seen. "Mikey's brother...” The other paused to click their fingers. “the art student."

Gerard wanted to kill Mikey, but okay. "O-kay." He wanted to kill himself more.

"Your brother told me you're Apollo's son. Why visual arts?" The other asked, head tilting to one side in question.

Gerard thought if Frankie doesn't stop now, he's just gonna die from all the short circuiting his brain is doing right now, overwhelmed with all the cuteness. "Yeah…I am – I just, I'm not good at music. I mean I can sing but I'm no Patrick." He blurted all in one go, chuckling to cover his embarrassment. He's not even sure if Frankie knows who Patrick is but then again if Frankie goes to music classes then they probably do. Everyone looks up to Patrick, even Brendon, when it comes to music.

"Oh yeah! Patrick's awesome." Gerard contemplated on killing Patrick next. "So, what kind of art do you do?"

Suddenly a drunken kid walked right onto Frankie, jostling the small body who looked uncomfortable and annoyed instantly. The boy just kept smiling though. "Hey there sugar plum." He slurred.

"Zacky…” The voice that came out of Frankie sounded terse and miffed. “I thought I'd seen you somewhere." Frankie looked increasingly uncomfortable, eyes shifting around not making eye contact with the Zacky person.

"Oh I know - say, you wanna go back to mine." Gerard never really wanna judge anyone when they're drunk. Gods knows he's said a couple of choice words back when he used to drink a shit ton. But this person was increasingly creeping up on Frankie and Frankie does not look okay with it.

Gerard surprised himself by stepping in between the two, practically prying the drunk man off of Frank's shoulders. "Take a hike bud." He said as neutrally as possible whilst he draw his arms around Frank's shoulders to keep the space occupied so the other won’t latch on again, squeezing it to both to show that he’s not afraid and to comfort Frank.

Zacky eyed them down and Gerard puffed his chest up as best he could, looking as intimidating as a hundred and twenty pound sleep deprived artist could be. The guy actually stepped back, making a _tsk_ sound under his breathe. "You'd pay for this." And the guy just walked away.

Gerard didn't know what to do next. He unwinds his arms from around Frankie and slipped his hands in his pockets. They were silent for a while until Gerard eventually choosing to pick up where they left off. "Oh y'know, comics...mostly. I love those old batman comics and stuff or like doom patrol, I'm heavily inspired by Grant Morrison. But y-yeah...batman."

Frankie had giggled at Gerard's odd behavior of choosing to pipe up out of nowhere like nothing had happened but they’d played along and nodded to themself, looking down at their shoes. Gerard thought he'd seen a blush creeping up that beautiful face but it could just be the lighting so he didn't get his hopes up too much. "Thanks." Frankie finally said chuckling a bit.

"Sure...guy's a prick." He laughed awkwardly.

"So Morrison and batman huh?" Frank suddenly diverts the conversation again and Gerard took the opening.

"Yeah..."

There was a tell-tale smirk glinting on Frankie's face matching the mischief in his eyes before, "I like superman better." Frankie said it.

And that's how Gerard spoke out a whole essay without taking a break on how batman was better. Coincidentally that's how Gerard realized he had found the love of his life.

*

It's only been two weeks and Gerard thinks he's found who he's going to fucking marry one day. They had talked quite a lot since then and during the party. He'd found Frank prefers to go by Frankie because he's nonbinary. And Gerard had thought it was cool of Frankie to have told him, he felt honored.

After the party Frankie was too tipsy to drink and apparently their protector, the satyr by the name Dewees had gone off with some girl some time ago. So, Gerard had walked Frankie back to his dorm room where Frankie had admired the stuff in his room and promptly passed out. The next morning Frankie was gone but there was a note left on Gerard's bed that had the word ‘thanks’ and a heart next to it so Gerard didn't _totally_ freak out.

Since then though, Frankie coming over had stuck. Frankie had started showing up at his dorm room ever since that night to raid his crate(s) full of old school comic books. At some point or another, Gerard had expressed his love for old school horror movies as well and Frankie had gasped and ran out of the room. They came back with stacks of bootlegged CDs of different horror and halloween theme movies and offered to shared their collection with Gerard.

Since then Frankie had come over a lot at night to read comics and watch one scary movie per night. The two of them even made this shitty, most likely dangerous, popcorn machine they got the tutorial from youtube since the microwave in Gerard's dorm room was busted and Frankie's is all the way across campus and they'd wanted the popcorn to be fresh.

Everything was cute and well in their small little friendship that they've made and from an outside perspective everything probably seems domestic. But there were a few catches for falling for someone way out of your league.

First off, Frankie was every definition of _way_ out of Gerard's league. Sure, they had shown to Gerard that they can just be as geeky as he is but Frankie was still undoubtedly pretty. Prettier than most Aphrodite’s spawns and that statement should not be taken lightly. It was quite apparent that Frankie was the number one _it_ person in the school. And everyone was gunning to be with them. And a lot of those people, no surprise, are in fact more popular than Gerard.

He'd had stink eyes sent his way after a few people saw Frankie and him holding hands to send each other off to their classes and Frankie had hugged and kissed him goodbye. Someone even threw a paper ball at him that had the word loser sprawled all over it and different students’ signature of approval like some sort of fucked up petition. Gerard vaguely thinks how this all felt too much like high school all over again. He wouldn’t have guessed that this was what it entails to be a partner to an Aphrodite spawn.  
But that didn't stop him from asking Frank out for a day at the park. What _did_ stop him though, was his own inhibitions.

"They like you, so just go for it." Mikey was sprawled on top of the covers; his head was resting on Pete's chest who was steadfastly asleep with a pool of drool next to his head. Gerard thinks that Mikey seriously had the worst taste in men.

"But...no. I'm like...no!" Gerard couldn't even articulate what he was feeling. All he knows is that he was inferior to them and even if Gerard was ready to face the hate of the whole entire campus he's still not ready to face rejection from Frankie.

"If you're not gonna do it someone else will and I know you'll mope about it for months and you'd start not eating, then you'd start not going to classes, then mom's gonna be mad, then dad's gonna be mad at you, then..."

"Yea alright, I get it. I'm a dumb loser." Gerard sighed, shifting on his brother's bed not wanting to accidentally sit on a used condom or something. “I’m still not gonna do it.” He mumbled.

Mikey sighed and got up from the bed and started pacing the room, rummaging for something in the corner. "Hey remember that humiliating video of yours when dad's voice started booming from the living room cause you killed another plant?" He suddenly piped up, still crouch in the corner, clutching something to his chest.

Gerard shifted, he could feel his face heating up from the memory. He cleared his throat and tried to play dumb. "Which dad?" _Not_ _that_ _dumb_ , he screamed internally.

Mikey snorted, not buying Gerard's fragile nonchalance. "Yours." He then turned around and produced a VHS tape in hand. Gerard knows that tape, would recognize it anywhere, Gerard thought he'd gotten rid of it.

"That's right Gee - if you don't at least try and ask Frankie out then I'm gonna post this on the school’s website." He said, a slight bounce to his tone showing his amusement to the situation.

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

*

Gerard was standing in front of Frankie's room, all well dressed and fully showered with a hand full of a bouquet of red roses and a note to help him on the other hand. For the first time in a long time, Gerard actually looks presentable. He walked pass a mirror on his way over and was surprised to not see the greasy rat that usually greats him when he looks at his reflection. He suddenly painfully realizes he's been looking like a total sewer rat in front of Frankie all this time and his hand halted before it could knock on the door, hesitating for the umpteenth time of day.

He didn't have too long though before the door opened to a slightly ragged looking goat man. "Uhh...that ain't for me, right?" The satyr asked, scratching at his beard that had bald patches in places. He was clutching on the towel that was wrapped around his waist and Gerard suddenly felt a swell of jealousy for the guy who was confident enough to walk around practically naked in Frankie's room.

Gerard just barely held back a rude comment, instead just gritted out a, "No."

"Cool." The guy said before rearing his head back in the room yelling. "Hey Frankie, flower delivery." Gerard was about to say something, anything before the guy yank the door open and pat Gerard on the shoulder before leaving the room to walk somewhere down the hall, still clad in a towel dripping water onto his bare hooves.

Gerard wanted to ask the guy where he was going but then Frankie suddenly was standing in the doorway looking at him and the flowers hopefully. "That for me?" They asked bouncing on their toes, their perfectly pink nail polished toes that match their fluffy pink sweater. Gerard was gonna die. “Dewees didn’t give you any shit did he? He likes to scare of people he deems, _unworthy_ or whatever.” They said, air quoting the unworthy part. That gave a stark realization to Gerard that he got jealous of Frankie’s protector, of course their protector was their roommate. He didn’t dwell on it long though.

“Uh, no.” He looked at the flowers in his hands and back at Frankie before extending the flowers towards them. Before they could reach for it Gerard had yanked it back, just now remembering the note in his other hand. Frankie looked at him confused but Gerard was too busy with himself to notice. He nodded to himself, looking delirious as all hell as he started mumbling to himself. He looked nervously towards the note as he clutched it tightly with a death grip, crumpling it to the point where the words were unreadable. "Frankie..." He'd started before crumpling the paper and throwing it somewhere down the hall, giving up on it from the word go. He re-extended the flower and this time Frankie took it with a small flutter of amused giggle.

"I - I wanted to...lunch. Dinner? Park!" He said those words in succession, he should’ve kept the note.

Frankie took held of the situation as they grabbed Gerard’s hands that was clutching on the hem of his t-shirt. "Yes, I would love to go on a date with you." They supplied.

Gerard let out a huge breath, squeezing their arms and shaking his head. "Yes - yeah..." He said breathlessly.

*

They went to the park first, Gerard splurging on coffee when Frank started sneezing from the autumn wind. He made the executive decision to detour to one of the vintage thrift shops near the park so he could buy Frankie a shit ton of scarfs to which they turned down except for one. Saying, "I'm not that cold Gee." and ending with, "If I am then I'll tell you so you cold cuddle me." Gerard went week in the knees at the mention of cuddling. Gods he was a dork.

There was a fair opened at the park that evening and so Gerard decided to go take Frankie there instead of the restaurant he had chosen, silently thanking his blissful unpreparedness for not calling reservations ahead of times.

It turned out to be a great decision though, Frankie had dragged him from one booth to another trying to win as many prizes as he could smiling and laughing giddily all the while. At some point Gerard had bought them a cotton candy and some warm apple cider, the last of the cotton candy Frankie basically fed to Gerard and Gerard wasn't complaining.

They ended up winning a lot of stuffed animals, small ones since the bigger the prize the harder the stakes. Frankie wasn't really into the prizes per say, but they enjoyed playing and winning them. That all changed when their eyes fell on the stupidly huge stuffed dog that looked so much like his Bella back home. They'd gasped so loud that Gerard had stopped to check what was wrong until he trained his eyes to wear Frankie was looking and saw their interest.

"Come on." They'd dragged Gerard yet again to the big space that was turned into the archery ranged.

Frankie ran to the person manning the game and dug through his pocket for money before Gerard beat him to it...again. Frankie whined and looked at Gerard. "You know one of these days I'm going to be faster than you."

Gerard chuckled and ran his hand through Frankie’s hair. "Well I asked you on this date, so if you wanna pay then you gotta ask me out." Gerard didn't realize what he said and he freaked out, almost blurting out a "No pressure though!" or something along those lines before he was silence with a kiss to the cheek.

Frankie brushed the piece of curling hair that had fallen over his eyes and smiled up at Gerard's red face. "Next time then." They chuckled, quickly grabbing the bow and arrow that was handed to them and ran to the range before Gerard could respond.

"I can so do this." Frankie whispered to themself getting into position and aimed. They needed to get three bullseyes to get the big dog. They were confident that they could get more than just three bullseyes. The bow and arrow weren't real, there wasn't a lot of wind, and the targets weren't even that far away. That is until, it started to move.

The guy manning the booth snickered at Frank's obvious surprise. "Remember, you got five chances." He said, eyes glinting towards the stacks of five dollars he was counting in his hand.

Gerard glared at him and was satisfied when the guy flinched. He saw Frankie's first arrow ripped through the air and onto a patch of grass beyond the target. He went to comfort them, _this_ _was_ _gonna_ _be_ _brutal_.

At the end Frankie only hit one target and it wasn't even a bullseye. Gerard felt sorry for Frankie, they really did look like they wanted the stuffed dog so bad. He never really done this, he's not comfortable in doing this. He'd felt it was always weird to reap the fruits of their godly parentage. That he shouldn't just cut his way through Broadway or something using the ability he's got running through his blood from his father. Or someone like his friend Ray shouldn't work as a forger because of course he'd be the best at it without even trying. His brother always teased him for his convictions because he thought it was all the same like any other family passed on talent that shouldn't be avoided because someone doesn't necessarily work for it. But Gerard stand by his words and went on to get a scholarship to the school with his own talent and hard work anyways.

Right now though, there was one thing and one thing only going through his mind. Frankie was just swindled by the person manning the game and he just lost a chance at the stuffed dog. Gerard was gonna get Frankie that dog, _goddammit!_

He slammed another five on the guy's counter. "Turn it back on." He said surprisingly menacing, wiping the smirk of the guy's smug face.

"Gee?" Frankie asked, confused because he did wanted that dog badly enough but Gerard was wasting money at this point. The game was clearly rigged much like others at the small fair so they weren't that badly hurt from losing. "You don't have to." They started before Gerard stomped loud enough that other people stopped to look.

Gerard turned around and squeezed Frankie's cheeks in his hands until it formed a small ‘o’, eyes wide and livid though not at them. "Frankie. I have expressed so many times what I felt about capitalism-" His voice has started to rise and garnered the attention of onlookers. "And I have had it up to _here_ of them thinking that they could cheat their way into big money like this and think it's harmless - but guess what! No, No goddammit!! A kid could be crying their eyes out right now going through what you went through and their parents would have to be the bad guy for not wanting to pay another five fucking bucks to another shitty, greedy son of a bitch!" He flailed his hands somewhere in the direction of the trembling booth guy. Frankie was just chuckling under their breathe now, their cheeks were warm where Gerard squeezed, they like it when Gerard get all rant-y and his eyes would go wide and sparkly the more passionate he says it. "So no! I. Am. Winning you - that fucking dog!!"

Gerard stopped and panted, a lot of people had gathered around them looking at what's going on. There was a moment of silence where only Gerard’s heavy puffs of breaths were the only sound there is, until Frankie let out an amused snigger before leaning up and capturing Gerard's lips with their own. Hands gripping the back of his neck to get the taller closer and closer. Gerard was late to react in winding his hands around the other’s waist, clutching it until his knuckles turned white. Somewhere in the back of Gerard's mind fireworks were exploding. The other's lips were soft and warm and it fits perfectly in between Gerard. They parted with a soft sound and decided to rest their foreheads together, catching their breathes.

The first of the small clap started until claps and whistles and a few awes from the teenage girls roared loudly amongst the crowd, one awe sounded particularly similar to Gabe’s annoying voice. And sure enough when Gerard scanned the crowd he saw Gabe with his usual group of friends and surprisingly Mikey in the crowd.

"Go get 'em!" Someone had said from the crowd and Gerard jumped into action grabbing the bow and arrow with conviction. The booth guy turned the rig on with shaky hands and the targets started moving.

Gerard stood poised and sturdy on the slightly elevated podium. He strung his arrow through the bow and pulled. He's never done this before, not even sure if he'd taken up the talent from his dad but there was no backing down now. Discreetly he looked at the sky and called out, wishing for his dad's help for this one insignificant thing that could made his potential lover happy.

He anchored the feathered end of the bow to the edge of his lips, feeling slightly constricted in his faux leather jacket. He looked towards one of the moving targets, locking it while it weaves it's way up and down the rig. With a sigh Gerard let go of the arrow and it ripped through the air landing straight in the middle of the target. He had the talent after all.

Cheers erupted and the small congregation increased it's massed to make Gerard's effort a full riveting spectacle. "Yes Gerard!" Gerard thinks that was probably Gabe. "You go queen!" definitely Gabe.

He picked up another arrow and sling it through. The tension on his fingers finally catching up to him as he did the same steps and launching the arrow through the air where it almost not landed on the bullseye. The crowd was roaring wild at Gerard, some even berating and shaming the booth guy on his behalf.

From behind him, Gerard could here Frankie's silent encouragement and that's all it took for Gerard to grab the third arrow, wanting to finish it all and reap the reward. He was too confident though, the arrow didn't even land anywhere near the targets and the crowd groaned in disappointment. "Fuck..." Gerard breathed.

Frankie suddenly ran to his side and hugged him. "One more Gee, I love you for doing this." Frankie then realized what they had said and gasped, eyes going wide. They quickly covered their surprise by kissing Gerard's cheek and running back towards their spot behind Gerard before he could say anything.

Gerard's heart was beating right out of his chest. He would never have guess that his menial inconsequential anger towards a rigged booth would lead him up to this. It all felt so grand for something so small.

"Okay." He said to himself as he picked up another arrow and closed his eyes. This time concentrating fully on one of the targets. He let the arrow rip through the air and it was about to hit the target before a large gust of wind came out of nowhere and the arrow changed course, hitting the ground with a small sound.

Gerard was surprised and confused, a little scared because now the stuff dog was riding on this one last arrow. Somewhere near him he heard a scuffle and he saw the guy, Zacky, who'd harassed Frankie at the party. One of his friend with blue eyes and long raggedy black hair was arguing with him, saying vaguely the words "Stop it!" and "No powers!" and "Wind." and Gerard could guess where the wind came from.

Whilst they were arguing and Zacky was distracted Gerard quickly drew up another arrow, aimed, focus, and shoot. This time, it landed.

The crowd erupted into cheers there was a loud "No!" From near him. But the crowd had started clapping and Frankie had hugged him and kissed him on the lips for the second time that night. "You were great, Gee!" The guy from the booth gave Gerard the stuffed dog and Gerard immediately gave it to Frank who squealed and gave Gerard another bone crushing hug screaming, "Thankyou thankyou thankyou!!" All the while.

"Uhm-" The guy from the booth had crawled back into Gerard's space, holding out a golden arrow. "So since you won you get to shoot the golden arrow through the target, n-not moving this time. And I'd hang the target with your name on it on the winning board." He pointed to a blank wall near the booth.

Gerard looked at Frankie and back at the guy with a shrug. "Sure." He grabbed the arrow and positioned himself back where he was before.

"Ooh, I wanna record this!" Frankie said, they ran towards the side of the range and clawed their phone out of their pocket. "Okay, go!" They shouted smiling as they look at Gerard mini form through their phone whilst recording. Gerard smiled back and aimed before letting go of the arrow.

It felt like time had slowed down to Gerard. One minute the arrow was going straight through the air on a one-way trip towards the bullseye and the next it was going left. The wind had once again picked up, strong, gushing, and hard. He looked towards where the arrow's going and saw Frankie's eyes going wide. "No!" He screamed before the arrow pierced through the left side of Frankie's chest, the same side where the heart is located. Frankie went down hard to the ground.

There were some scuffle going on behind him, what sounded like Gabe and his friends and the guy who was harassing Frankie at the Party. Gerard didn't bother to concentrated on it before booking it to Frankie's side. "Someone call 9-1-1." He barked out. His brother had showed up not two seconds later, kneeling next to him. "Already done it." He said waving the phone towards Gerard's general direction.

Gerard didn't pay his brother any mind as he prop Frankie's head on his thighs, feeling their neck for a pulse. His heart dropped when he didn't find any and that their chest wasn't moving. "No..." He said a bit brokenly. "No!!"

Zacky ran followed by Gabe and his friends towards where Gerard was, effectively blocking the crowd from the scene. "Fuck I'm sorry. I - I didn't mean to hurt Frankie - it was just an accident!" Zacky tried to defend.

"Hurt?" Gerard said, voice cold and raspy from his shouting, he turned towards Zacky as the tears ran down his cheeks. "Hurt! You killed them you prick." He hissed low enough not to be heard by the general crowd.

"What?!" Zacky started to turn before Gabe and one of his friends with the shoulder length hair, William, grabbed both his elbows. "Wait!" Zacky shrieked.

"Oh you're gonna get it now." This was not the first time a demigod was killed by another demigod and there were odd unforeseen consequences each unique to the individual when this very incident happens, separate from the human world of course. Each one of them at the fair could feel the thrumming of an angry mother in the air and a disappointed father as the wind shift. The trial for murder, accidental or not, was to be left to the Gods involved. "Zephyr's gonna kill you!" Gabe hissed in Zacky's ears.

"Not if Aphrodite got to you first." Mikey reasoned. "You know how mad she gets when one of her pretty ones dies." He said, anger visible in his voice. This was a big deal for the usually stoic Mikey to show such aggressive emotion, but he’s standing by his brother in solidarity. He was just as sad and disappointed at the situation because his brother has never had as promising of a person dating him as Frankie.

Zacky was trembling, mumbling his sorry through his own tears.

"Save it." Gerard said tersely. He felt drained and hopeless, the person that he liked and actually liked him back was now dead. And it was so sudden, during something that was supposed to be fun and not serious. Gerard was furious, with Zacky for killing Frankie, with himself for asking Frankie on a date in the first place, with the world just cause this isn't fair.

Through his sobbing he heard a voice ringing in his ears, all grand and echoing. _Not again._ The voice said, the words menial enough, contradicting it’s grand nature. And Gerard looked up at Mikey's face confused.

Mikey looked back questioningly before his back tensed and his eyes glazed over. "Dad?" He whispered.

Next to the three of them a patch of ground started to rumble until a small bud grew from in between the cracks. It grew and grew before it formed into an otherworldly golden Hyacinthus flower. Mikey looked at it and plucked it, staring at it for a bit before another spark flash through his eyes and then he ran with it towards William. "Together." He mumbled to William who looked confused but still went along with it.

They ran back to Gerard's side, William quickly grabbing the arrow and plucking it out, wincing at the loud squelching sound it made. Mikey put the flower over the wound and grabbed William's hand "Put your hand on his chest, you too Gee." Mikey instructed and William caught on to what Mikey was doing as he covered the wound with his hand, Mikey’s and Gerard’s going on top of his. The two closed their eyes and started what looks like a prayer. William imploring his father Asclepius.

"What's going on?" Gerard asked, confused with the situation but still going along. But then the part of Frankie's chest where the arrow struck had started to glow golden. The other demigods had started crowding over them so the muggles couldn't see what's going on.

The glowing eventually faded and Gabe and Mikey sat back and stopped their chanting. "Come on." Mikey mumbled when nothing happened for a while.

Gerard was about to start screaming before Frankie suddenly sat up with a large intake of air. "Oh my Gods!" They said, clutching at their chest that was still bleeding but not a lot. They heaved and gasped and looked around. "Was I dead?" They questioned breathlessly before Gerard lunged forward to kiss the daylight out Frankie, being careful not to touch the wound or aggravate it in any way. When they parted Frankie panted and asked the question again and Gerard just laughed and hugged the other tightly (but not too tightly) to his chest.

*

Eventually the crowd was broken up when the paramedics came and Frankie was taken away to be checked out in the hospital where Gerard stayed with them all night long. "I'm sorry..." He said, squeezing Frankie's hand. "I made such a mess."

Frankie shook their head and nudged Gerard's shoulder with their hands. "Don't be an idiot - you gave me a great time. And a probably pretty awesome scar too-" They said dragging down his hospital gown to show the wound. "Plus, now I could tell the story of when I die to everyone." They chuckled.

Gerard didn't find it amusing. "That's not funny. I could’ve lost you Frankie. A lot of people could've." He said.

Frankie grabbed at Gerard's neck and dragged him down for a kiss. "But you didn't...and it's not your fault." They said, pecking Gerard's lips several more times before letting go.

Gerard shook his head, sighing, biting his nail down to a stub. "I don’t suppose you would want to go on a second date?" He said mirthlessly, feeling like an idiot for asking.

"Sure!" Frankie shouted excitedly and Gerard eyes went wide with the contradiction. "I would love that." They said, softer this time.

Gerard looked up and found himself smiling. In a burst of courage, he blurted out his thoughts. "Be my partner?" He asked, hope evident in his voice.

Frankie drew Gerard in for another kiss. "Yes." They said after they parted.

Gerard was about to deepen the kiss before a frantic man suddenly ran through the doors of the room, looking scared and disheveled. "Frankie?" He said stepping closer to them. "Your mom told me you died?" He asked confused and a little scared.

They looked towards Gerard before sighing. "I - did." They said reluctantly. "B-but don't freak out, I'm fine now, okay? Gerard here, helped me."

"Oh!" Their father said before finally noticing the boy in the room. "A-and who are you?"

Gerard gulped, he thought that meeting the parents weren't supposed to come this quickly after the first date. "I - uh... I'm Frankie's fr-"

"Boyfriend!" Frankie cut in. "He's my boyfriend." They said more tenderly, rubbing at Gerard's knuckles.

"Oh! So are you from Aither too?" Their father extended a hand to Gerard in a hand shake.

The three of them talked and chatted all night long. Frankie's father was not as intimidating once he got to know him.

*

A few days later Frankie was discharged and Gerard and them was now leaning against each other watching the sunset over the lake for their second date. Watching the evening sky and enjoying each other’s’ presence.

"You know that flower that saved my life?" Frankie suddenly piped up, shifting so they could face Gerard.

"Yeah?" Gerard said as he shifted to look towards Frankie as well.

"It was a Hyacinthus...I-I think I'm gonna tattoo that over my heart where the scar is and write hope on it." They said, looking at their entwined hand almost shyly.

Gerard squeezed their hands. "I think that's beautiful."

Frankie giggled and looked up, not so shy anymore. "You know my great great...a lot of greats, grandfather was name Hyacinthus."

Gerard looked towards Frankie curiously. "Really?" he asked, sensing more to the story.

"Uh huh." Frankie grabbed the lapels of Gerard's jacket and yanked it until Gerard's lips were ghosting over their's. "Wanna hear a story?" They said, Gerard nodded before sealing the evening with a kiss that felt long awaited for centuries.


End file.
